I rode a mechanical bull and 5 people came to church

Oh man, I laughed really hard as I read your Southern California trip story. Although the part about Muffin was pretty sad. He was a cute little guy.  It appears the Southern California Bird Curse is still a thing. So weird. I was laughing so hard at the story about the that weird guy "shaking the heck out of his salad forever." I'm still laughing about it.

Well, I'm not sure my week can top yours.. so here it is. Our week started off pretty good. We went to a sport's center in Gaoxiong for P-Day and I rode a mechanical bull. It was really hard but after hours of practice and humiliation I got pretty good. Although I eventually had to stop, because The Burge Family Jewels were really sore. I was sore the whole week. I was walking like a pirate for the rest of the week. But, we had a lot of fun there.

Then the week started off kind of bad. We met with our investigators and 2 of them dropped their baptismal goals. That kind of sucks. So right now we don't have any baptismal goals, but we could get them baptized really fast. The problem right now is their parents. The parent's disapprove of their baptisms and them going to church, so that kind of sucks. But, they both really love church and stuff, and they both have pretty good testimonies. So hopefully their parents will come around and let them get baptized. We met a lot of cool people this week and got some really good referrals. Right now we're teaching a guy that lived in Indiana for a 10 years of his life and traveled all around the US. His English is obviously pretty good, so we talked to him about the US for like...an hour. I don't know how much gospel interest he has, but he wasn't against us sharing the gospel. He's met with missionaries before in Florida, so he pretty much knows what we talk about and what we do. So hopefully his interest and desire will increase.

But, the week ended very good. This week we had 5 investigators come to church. I don't know what's been going on lately, but we've just been having people show up out of the woodwork. It's been really awesome. We had a girl randomly show up and she was from Taizhong. She lives in Daliao and she was really cool and had a lot of interest. The only problem is that she works in Taizhong... SO she basically doesn't really have time to meet because she's not in Daliao ever..

Me and Elder Hongvilai got a lot of fruit this week too. So like every night we come home after being in hell like heat and just eat watermelon and mango and stuff. It's pretty fun, but we're getting kind of sick of all the fruit. The mango's on the other hand I could eat those all day. Mangoes in Taiwan are so freaking good. But yeah, it's been really hot his week and it's been hard/dangerous to be outside. We have to take a lot of breaks and sit in the 7/11 and then go back out. I officially am so tanned I look like I'm Mexican....

I'm doing pretty good and I love you all so very much!! I appreciate your support and your love!

Zhongzis and a Historic River...

Hello!!

Okay... How's California? That's really cool! I Googled mapped the area and it looks really pretty. So what are some things you are going to do in California? Make sure you take lots of pictures!

Well, it's good to hear that you're all on vacation and are now relaxing.  That's good. It sounds like you all needed a vacation. Hahaha.

P-day was really fun on Monday! We went to the Love River in Gaoxiong and watched the dragon boat races. It was really cool. So what I was told is that they have dragon boat festivals to bring out the spirit of the dragon. So the spirit of the dragon is excellence, boldness, perseverance, divinity, power, valiance, heroism and nobility. The actual boat races were really cool. On the first boat race of the day there were 4 boats racing and one of the boats near the starting line flipped over and all of the people fell out.....So of course as the Lord's servants watching this, we all laughed in their faces as they swam back to shore. It was really cool and I got a few pictures I can show you.

This week was a really crazy week and a lot happened. Well first off, Taiwan is just getting slammed with rain. It's literally rained all week and not just wimpy rain. Like hardcore rain. It's been pretty bad. There's areas up in Taibei that are just flooded. I saw some pictures from a member. He said it's pretty bad, but we still worked in the pouring rain. It was really funny because we would bike along and then when we see a storm cloud coming or rain starts to drizzle we would hide for cover under shops or gas stations and stuff and then wait as it just pours.  A a minute or two later we were able to go. It was like the biggest game of hide-and-go-seek but with giant storm clouds.

This week I ate at Chapels' office. He cooks really good food and it was really fun. He made these things called Zhongzi's I think I've mentioned in previous emails back to you. He also made some DongGuaCha and some other small foods. Everything was fine and I was eating Zhongzi's.. The thing about these Zhongzi's is that they fill you up super quick and overall they just wreck your insides. So after one Zhongzi I was pretty much done. I was full. But Chapel told me to eat 2 more. Pretty much after the second one i felt freaking awful. I started to feel sick and I felt that "I'm going to throw up feeling." I felt pretty terrible and was just cringing.. All I wanted to do was leave and throw up. So I endured the entire appointment and ate WAY to much. We left his office and then I told Elder Hongvilai, "Alright, I'm going to go puke in that small historic river." So I went over to a river and puked my guts out. It was awful. I felt terrible for like 2 days after that.

On Sunday we had a cool experience. It was raining really hard and I was pretty certain that none of our investigators were going to make it church. Mostly because it's culture that if its raining you don't go outside pretty much. The Taiwanese people believe that the rain is just dangerous and will get you sick. We got to church and most the ward wasn't there so we were like... Yep... No investigators. Then randomly a member brought one of our investigators to church (he drove him). That was really nice. And then out of nowhere, Kyle the Sniper shows up. So halfway through sacrament meeting he shows up. I literally told him, "You came to church in the rain?" And he looked at me and said, "Yeah, why not?" That was really cool. Then it was fast Sunday so everyone is doing their testimonies. He randomly leaned over to me and asked, "So anyone can get up?" I said, "Yeah, it's just people bearing their testimonies." Then he said, "Can I?" I was like...."Sure." So he got up and bore his testimony. His testimony was really good and he talked about how in life there's hard things to deal with but there's always a light and God is that light. So that was really cool.

Other than that, that's basically all that happened. We got a ton of referrals this week and their all apparently, "super golden" So maybe they are maybe they are not. I don't know.

I love you all so very much! Enjoy California!

Good Things Going On...

Wow... Sounds like your  week was really crazy!! Yeah, I think that's an annual thing every time this time of year rolls around. Don't worry though! Summer is in sight and then you all can relax! It's weird to think that our family is grown up now.. None of us are in high school anymore... that makes me feel weird.But yeah, Kayleigh's cosmetology thing should keep her pretty busy.

As for things in our area.. It's actually not too bad. We have some good things going on. Last night we met with our investigator Bella. She's doing really good. We hadn't met with her since Elder Miller and I were companions so it's been about a month. She wasn't able to meet with us because of some tests and school. But now she's ready to meet with us. We had a great lesson with her last night and we invited her to get baptized on 6/17. She's super prepared and answers all of the questions perfectly. We really like her a lot and we think she's really cool. I think she'll honestly get baptized on that day. She loves coming to church and learning about the gospel.

This weeks it's been really hard to find people. We've been talking to a lot of people but they're all super busy mostly because it's the Dragon Boat Festival. So many people are going to be out of town or they're super busy making 菜粽. Which is a traditional food usually made on holidays. It's like rice wrapped up in some leaf. It's......Not that good. In fact, I think there's a lot of people in Taiwan that don't really like it. But we've been given quite a few. My companion actually really likes them. He can eat like 5 which is insane.. they fill you up super quick. So...... I just give all of mine to him and then I just eat fried rice like everyday.

It was kind of a rough week for us and it was hard for us to go out and work. It also rained a lot this week so that was a little bit harder. But... My companion has been having some ear problems/nightmares/depression problems and some other....problems... So it's been REALLY hard for him to work. So 2 nights ago I gave him a Priesthood blessing and the next morning he said that he didn't have any nightmares anymore and that he felt a little happier. Unfortunately our faith didn't fix his ear.

I don't really have any pictures this week. It rained a lot and I was inside for a lot the week.... Next week.

Today for P-Day we don't really have any plans. We might go meet up with Elder Fuller in Gaoxiong and hang out.

I miss you all so very much. I appreciate the videos/pictures you all send me. I think you're all super funny. I can't wait to come home and hang out with you all. As of June I will only have 6 months left.

I'm not moving! I'm staying with Elder Hongvilai again!

Wow, that sounds like one of the craziest weeks you ever emailed me about... Hahaha.. I don't have much to say other than 加油. Sounds like your usual May craziness hahaha..

It was really fun to skype you!

So the news is....I'm not moving! I'm staying with Elder Hongvilai again!

This week was a little bit crazy for me too. This week was the last week of the transfer so with that we had the usually craziness. Me and Elder Hongvilai spent most of the week visiting Artie and and trying to find new investigators. So the usual... Hahaha, we got rained on quite a bit which is really hard for missionary work in Taiwan, because people will not go outside if it's raining. They're literally afraid of the rain so.... goodbye to missionary work and any sort of lessons you had. So we spent a lot of time biking around in the rain and calling formers. The cool part of all of this is, we had a former answer. I was surprised because normally people don't answer. I started talking with him and he was really nice and friendly. He set up a time to meet with us and I thought awesome. Then I read his record and figured out who he was. This guy is a Marine sniper. So we met with him and he was outrageously cool. No, I'm not just saying that because he's a sniper, he's actually a nice guy. And hilariously enough, his English name is Kyle...

This week our ward also had a potluck! It was really fun and we were able to get a ton of investigators to go. I don't know what's been going on lately, but we've been getting a lot of referrals. It's really cool. So we get lots of people that are ready to be taught. I guess while I was on exchanges with another elder in a different area they found a guy that was really good a beatboxing. So that's one of our potential investigators hahaha. The ward here is really good about referrals and stuff.

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with an elder from Arkansas. No, not Elder Hatch, but Elder Bradford from Fayetteville, Arkansas. He's really cool and it was a lot of fun. He's going home soon though... So he was pretty trunky the whole time. He ended up listening to Sam Smith when we came home at night.. which led to me being really trunky that night and wanting to download some Sam Smith music. Gosh dang it.

It's been a pretty good week and I love you all so very much. This P-Day I'm going to the beach with Elder Fuller and Elder Hatch. Nothing too crazy hahaha.

There's not really a whole lot of stuff this week that happened... Sorry. I also don't really have pictures this week. Here's a view of Gaoxiong City at night from the YuanShan Elder's roof.

Artie got baptized and we got to Skype with Silas for Mother's Day!!!

This week we got to Skype with Silas for Mothers' Day!!!  They were Skyping at the church.  It will probably be the last time we Skype before he comes home sometime around the end of the year.  He's not sure yet when his return date will be.  His entrance into the MTC at the beginning of his mission was delayed one week, and the church keeps adjusting the transfer schedules.  He said this next transfer period will be extended into the middle of July - longer than the normal six week transfer period.  

We asked him what he thought his post mission plans would be.  He said it was so hard to learn Mandarin that he definitely wants to continue to study the language in college, and hopes to make it a big part of his future career.  He said he doesn't want to lose his language skills when he gets back to the states.  He said he is currently working on his reading and writing skills with both traditional characters and simplified.  Taiwan uses traditional characters, while mainland China uses simplified characters.    

We got to meet his companion, Elder Hongvillai.  His English is really good. He got to Skype with his mother in Thailand the day before.  They celebrate Mothers' Day in both Taiwan and Thailand.  He said his sister is a baker in Moab and that he would like to go visit her someday.  We hope he gets the chance. 

We also got to meet a ward member whose English name is Middle.  They pick such interesting English names.  Silas is doing well and seems to really have hit his stride as a missionary in Taiwan. We got to hear him talk with Middle in Mandarin many times as he was trying to explain our conversation. There was a lot of Mandarin and laughing going on, so we must have been entertaining. We were also trying to figure out how to correctly pronounce Silas' Mandarin name - Bo Zhang Lao.  He kept trying to teach it to us, but we weren't picking up on those subtle tones that are so important in Mandarin.  Well, at least we kept them entertained.  

We also found out that Artie got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!!!  His father is a member and he told Artie that is was up to him if he wanted to come to church and be a member.  It takes a lot of dedication for a young man like Artie to get up and go to church without any promptings by his father.  The church can always use another priesthood holder and we think Artie will be great.  His father and the ward must be so happy to have another priesthood holder.

For P-day, Silas said that they were going to go with brother Middle and get some Thai food (a taste of home for his companion) and check out nearby Tainan City.

At church he leaned over to me and said, "這個地方是地獄"

Hello family..

Yeah, sorry about that hahaha. For the record, I had no idea that he was going to do that. So, it was kind of a surprise when I heard him calling someone on his phone and then hearing your voices... Hahahaha! That was pretty awkward for me. I just don't really know what to do. Do I talk to you? Do I not talk to you and smile and wave? Yeah.. Oh well. Freaking Scott hahaha! He's awesome though. On P-day we had a really good time catching up and hanging out. It was really fun and went to a lot of places. I had a fun time 3rd wheeling (his girlfriend was there) So we took some 3rd wheel photos. I'm glad you still love me.

That's really cool that you got massages. Yeah, I'm down for going to get massages after the mission. I've learned to enjoy massages......... regardless of who they are coming from. I've always wondered how the Millpond Spa is. Did you like it?

This week was another week in Daliao. We kind of just ride circles around our area and get rejected a lot. Well.... I get rejected a lot.  Then we teach our investigators every once in awhile who are struggling to get answers and stuff. On the bright side, Artie our investigator was able to make it church. So now we can baptize him on Saturday. Woohoo. Yeah, it should be pretty fun. The hard part will be getting him to come to church the next day for his confirmation. That's the part I'm worried about. I think it should be okay, even though at church he leaned over to me and said, "這個地方是地獄" (This place is hell.)

I also was able to go on exchanges with Elder Wightman from SF California....again. That was really fun and we work really well together. We saw tons of cool things happen on exchanges and we got lots of numbers and adds. It was really fun to joke about Elder Fuller too. He was formerly Elder Fuller's companion a little while ago. So we just shared Elder Fuller stories the whole time and just laughed. Hahaha. We share a mutual love for Elder Fuller.

Today for P-Day we are going to Harbor. It's a really expensive and fancy buffet place. Apparently it has the best meat in all of Gaoxiong. So I'm pretty excited. We are also going with Elder Fuller too.

That's basically it for my week. I'm sorry to hear you are all very busy with things. It's okay though, summer is almost here right? That's good for you guys at least. I'm going to die. Summer in Taiwan is always really hard, especially at night when you're trying to sleep and the AC is on full blast and you don't get to bed until 3:00 AM every night and you just wake up covered in sweat.  Anyway! I love you all so very much!

Fish & Fish Stories

Hello family!

It's been another week here in Daliao. This week was just an ordinary week. Which just means lots of finding lots of teaching. This week we were  not able to baptize Artie. Because he wasn't able to make it to church. But, fortunately he had a good excuse, he was really sick and I think he's still sick. That's okay! We'll get him next week. The bright side is that we have more time to teach him prepare him for his baptismal interview. He's a really good kid. Then we also have some really cool people we met throughout week. So we should be getting some more baptismal dates set and ready to go. I don't know there's just lots of cool investigators and potentials we have. It should be exciting to see what happens. Finding kind of sucks. But that's okay.

This week we came across an LA Pingdong ward member he's got a lazy eye and he's obviously crazy. He met with us and wrote to us that he's a mute and cannot speak. So I had to read his Chinese characters written on a tissue for an hour. It was just a little bit of a patience game asking him question then having to wait to read it. Then we gave him a Book Of Mormon and told him to come to church. When he came to church it was a miracle. He could speak again, because he stayed up all night reading the Book of Mormon and then he said all of a sudden he could speak Chinese. I literally told him, "....Cool...." Then walked off... The guy is so crazy.. And a liar...

The members were really nice to my comp this week and bought him some Thai food. He really liked it and was very happy. I got to try some of it.. Holy freak, that stuff is spicy.

We also had Zone Conference this week. The theme of it was talking about obedience and laws. There was some good stuff mentioned in it. But, I only like Zone Conference for the weird comments people make.. Oh yeah, and Elder Fuller/Hatch sat next to me. So of course we just laughed the whole time. They always end up serving around me hahaha! It's so bad....

Last Monday we went to the aquarium in HengChun. It was really cool. I love Aquariums. We got to see a really really fat whale/dolphin(?) I don't know but it was really cool.